Gray Wolves

PHOENIX - Mexican gray wolves again headed into the wilds of Arizona on Friday, another attempt to reintroduce the endangered species to the region's mountains. Biologists released two pairs of wolves in far eastern Arizona. The two males had been in the wild before. They were initially released in March but were recaptured several weeks ago to be paired with two new females brought to Apache National Forest and held in acclimation pens.

The predator is canny, relentless and swarms in killer packs. It lives and loves to hunt whatever it desires, typically dropping prey animals in their tracks. The predator attacks without warning, preferably giving victims no chance to defend themselves. Unfortunately, it often pays little heed to whether it's driving those it kills toward extinction. The predator we're discussing, of course, is homo sapiens , the species of human that for thousands of years has variously domesticated, admired and exterminated different types of wolves around much of planet Earth.

Alaska's plan to shoot hundreds of gray wolves from helicopters this winter has put the state's billion-dollar tourism industry in the cross hairs. Several environmental groups in the lower 48 states said they would start pushing a boycott of tourism, Alaska's third-largest industry in terms of jobs, behind the military and seafood processing. Alaska's Board of Game last week approved a plan to kill 300 or more gray wolves - up to 80 percent - in two eastern interior areas next year to enlarge moose and caribou herds.

There's a lot more to restoring an endangered species than simply getting enough animals to breed in the wild. They return to a changed area, narrower and more hostile, where humans occupy more space. Sometimes this works out fine; the bald eagle has been a stunning success story. The return of the gray wolf to the northern Rockies looked as though it would be similarly inspiring, with the wolf's numbers rising from an original 66 to about 1,700. It still could be, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been too willing to see the multimillion-dollar wolf program set back by agreements with states that allow widespread hunting.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and other farm groups sued Friday to stop a plan that calls for reintroducing gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife plan, announced earlier this year, calls for bringing 15 gray wolves to Yellowstone and 15 to central Idaho a year during the next three to five years. Ranchers vehemently oppose the reintroduction of wolves because they fear the animals will not be contained in the park and will kill livestock and spread diseases.

PHOENIX - Biologists who spied a pair of Mexican gray wolves wandering a remote Arizona national forest got a pleasant surprise when they took a closer look. ``They saw two wolves emerge from some trees with a puffball following them,'' said Wendy Brown, a wolf recovery biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, N.M. The puffball was a pup, apparently the first born to gray wolves in the wild to survive for any real length of time in nearly 50 years.

Gov. Walter J. Hickel, stung by criticism of plans to shoot hundreds of gray wolves, offered Tuesday to send the animals to other states where once-thriving wolf populations could be re-established. Hickel said transplanting would be ''a viable and preferred alternative'' to killing the wolves to control their population. The Alaska Game Board approved a plan last month to have wildlife officials in helicopters shoot at least 300 gray wolves in two areas of the state's eastern interior region.

PHOENIX - Only five Mexican gray wolves are roaming the Arizona wilds less than a year after wildlife officials released 11 of them. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said two wolves are missing and may be dead, including the first pup of the species to be born in the wild in nearly 50 years. Two others are confirmed dead, and three have been taken back into captivity.

FOREST LAKE, Minn. -- The gray wolf has made such a strong comeback that it should be removed from federal protection from Maine to the Dakotas, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Friday. Norton announced a proposed rule that would lift protection under the Endangered Species Act for gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan -- where the population has grown to 3,200 animals -- as well as in at least 20 other states.

WASHINGTON -- After reversing President George W. Bush on a pack of environmental rules, the Obama administration let one of Bush's last-minute rules changes stand Friday: removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the upper Midwest, Idaho and Montana. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the decision at a press conference, saying the finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service under Bush was "a supportable one. ... Scientists have concluded that recovery has occurred."

GARDINER, Mont. -- Wolf 527 was a survivor. She lived through a rival pack's crippling 12-day siege of her den. When another pair of wolves laid down stakes in her territory, she killed the mother and picked off the pups while the invader's mate howled nearby in frustration and fury. She was not a charmer. But successful wolves are not known for their geniality. As the alpha female of the Cottonwood Creek pack, she also was equipped with a radio collar so wildlife biologists could track her movements, making her one of Yellowstone National Park's best-known wolves.

WASHINGTON -- After reversing President George W. Bush on a pack of environmental rules, the Obama administration let one of Bush's last-minute rules changes stand Friday: removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the upper Midwest, Idaho and Montana. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the decision at a press conference, saying the finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service under Bush was "a supportable one. ... Scientists have concluded that recovery has occurred."

FOREST LAKE, Minn. -- The gray wolf has made such a strong comeback that it should be removed from federal protection from Maine to the Dakotas, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Friday. Norton announced a proposed rule that would lift protection under the Endangered Species Act for gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan -- where the population has grown to 3,200 animals -- as well as in at least 20 other states.

PHOENIX - Mexican gray wolves again headed into the wilds of Arizona on Friday, another attempt to reintroduce the endangered species to the region's mountains. Biologists released two pairs of wolves in far eastern Arizona. The two males had been in the wild before. They were initially released in March but were recaptured several weeks ago to be paired with two new females brought to Apache National Forest and held in acclimation pens.

PHOENIX - Undaunted by the heavy losses sustained in the gray wolf reintroduction program, biologists plan to release two more of the animals into the wilds of eastern Arizona. Two female Mexican gray wolves were expected to be set free Monday. Wildlife officials hope they will mate with the remaining members of the reintroduction policy - three male wolves. Federal and state biologists had released 11 Mexican gray wolves. Five of the wolves - and a pup born to one of them - are now either dead or presumed dead.

PHOENIX - Only five Mexican gray wolves are roaming the Arizona wilds less than a year after wildlife officials released 11 of them. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said two wolves are missing and may be dead, including the first pup of the species to be born in the wild in nearly 50 years. Two others are confirmed dead, and three have been taken back into captivity.

GARDINER, Mont. -- Wolf 527 was a survivor. She lived through a rival pack's crippling 12-day siege of her den. When another pair of wolves laid down stakes in her territory, she killed the mother and picked off the pups while the invader's mate howled nearby in frustration and fury. She was not a charmer. But successful wolves are not known for their geniality. As the alpha female of the Cottonwood Creek pack, she also was equipped with a radio collar so wildlife biologists could track her movements, making her one of Yellowstone National Park's best-known wolves.

There's a lot more to restoring an endangered species than simply getting enough animals to breed in the wild. They return to a changed area, narrower and more hostile, where humans occupy more space. Sometimes this works out fine; the bald eagle has been a stunning success story. The return of the gray wolf to the northern Rockies looked as though it would be similarly inspiring, with the wolf's numbers rising from an original 66 to about 1,700. It still could be, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been too willing to see the multimillion-dollar wolf program set back by agreements with states that allow widespread hunting.

PHOENIX - Biologists who spied a pair of Mexican gray wolves wandering a remote Arizona national forest got a pleasant surprise when they took a closer look. ``They saw two wolves emerge from some trees with a puffball following them,'' said Wendy Brown, a wolf recovery biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, N.M. The puffball was a pup, apparently the first born to gray wolves in the wild to survive for any real length of time in nearly 50 years.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and other farm groups sued Friday to stop a plan that calls for reintroducing gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife plan, announced earlier this year, calls for bringing 15 gray wolves to Yellowstone and 15 to central Idaho a year during the next three to five years. Ranchers vehemently oppose the reintroduction of wolves because they fear the animals will not be contained in the park and will kill livestock and spread diseases.